1. IDENTIFY YOUR BUSINESS' BRAND, AND SPELL OUT YOUR SUBJECT

People are far more likely to open an email when they know who it's from and what they'll get if they click. Put your company name in the “from” line for quick recognition. Make sure the "Subject" line is specific and spells out the email's contents. Your email has a great deal of competition in a crowded inbox, so if you don't have an engaging subject line the chances of the email being read are slim. It is the reader's first impression of you and is vital to your campaign’s success.

2. DON'T LET YOUR PICTURES DO ALL THE TALKING

Sure, a picture's worth a thousand words, but these days, those images could be blocked. Make sure your HTML version still looks good and makes your point even without the images. Give people a link to the “pretty” version just in case their email system blocks images.

3. GET TO THE POINT

Think about your campaigns, and choose your opening words wisely. Don't make your readers work to figure out what your email's about. Do make it fun and useful. You have just a few precious inches to entice readers to open your email to full-screen size and click through on your offer. Use it to your best advantage.

4. DON'T "SPRAY & PRAY"

Reader interest in your emails depends on how targeted your audience is. The better you target, the more likely you are to get your email in front of someone who is interested in the contents. Speak to your audience as individuals. Get personal - target your emails according to your reader’s preferences. Ask them what they want, use linked surveys, polls or forms, measure what they read, react to their feedback.

5. FOLLOW IT UP

Treat the email broadcast as part of a campaign, not a standalone project. Make sure you have the time and resources to follow it up. For example you should call on those who express the most interest via click-throughs and high impression rates certainly within a week of sending the email, if not sooner.

Many organisations utilise e-mail to distribute information about new products, promotions and services to customers. Leveraging e-mail as a marketing tool is inexpensive, and when properly targeted, e-mail campaigns can be extremely effective in acquiring new and retaining existing customers. Email marketing allows you to swiftly design and deploy targeted email campaigns that deliver measurable results to help streamline business processes, increase marketing productivity, improve communication, drive sales and profits, and gain competitive advantage.

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